1. Technical Field
This disclosure generally relates to remote controls, and more specifically relates to a remote control that can be automatically programmed based on location.
2. Background Art
Most home electronics come with dedicated remote controls. When a person has many different electronic devices to control, the result can be many different remote controls sitting on an end table or coffee table. It is frustrating for a user to fumble through many different remote controls to find the right one, then to figure out which buttons to push to accomplish the function the user wants. To eliminate having to deal with many different remote controls with different key layouts, universal remote controls were developed that can be programmed to control multiple pieces of equipment using the same keys. For example, a universal remote control could include buttons for TV, DVR, Receiver and DVD. A user can push one of these buttons, and the user's key presses will then control the corresponding equipment. Universal remote controls have greatly reduced the number of remote controls the user must deal with to control the user's home electronics. These remote controls are called “universal remotes” because of the ability to program them to accommodate a large number of devices from many different vendors.
Programming a universal remote control to control a wide variety of different electronic equipment from a number of different vendors is possible because the universal remote control can include a database of vendor models of equipment and corresponding codes for controlling the equipment. By the user selecting a vendor model or code, the remote control can program itself for the set of codes to control the vendor's equipment. This process can be repeated for each piece of equipment the user wants to control with the universal remote control. Thus, a user could program a known universal remote control to control a Samsung television, a DirecTV digital video recorder (DVR), and a Sony DVD player. The ability to program a universal remote control to support different equipment provides the capability for a user to customize the remote control. However, once the remote control is programmed for the user's equipment, the programming for the remote control typically does not change until the user adds a new piece of equipment or replaces an existing piece of equipment with different equipment.
Some universal remote controls use touch-screens that display graphical symbols called icons that may be selected by a user to perform certain functions. Thus, a CNN icon on a universal remote control with a touch screen may be presented, and when the user selects the CNN icon by pressing on the CNN icon on the touch screen, the remote control will send the appropriate command to change the channel to CNN.